Making and packaging strands of material



Oct. 2, 1945. H w. COLLINS MAKING AND PACKAGING STRANDS 0F MATERIALFiled Sept. 23, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 31m): rater, .Eowdrd K62224561 IOct. 2, 1945. H. w. COLLINS 2,336,153

MAKING AND PACKAGING STRANDS OF MATERIAL Filed Sept. 25, 1942 2Sheets-Sheet 2 gvwcnkw ffalfaral 71 Collins,

Patented Oct 2, 1945' mmq'rann s PAT '2, 3l l6 ,158 i memento 's'raannsor MATERIAL E OFFICE.

, Howard Collins,'"Newark, Ohio, asslgnorto Owens-Corning FlberglasCorporation, a Jeorporation of Delaware Applicationseptember 23, 1942,Serial No. 459,460 b 14 Claims. (01. 242-42): I

. .is capable of being packaged or wound on theretlcular kindof'material, for the purpose of illustration I have shown my inventionasapplicable to the manufacture of strands of filaments formed of glassor equivalentinorganic materials.

In the manufacture of strands or filaments 'ofthe above general type, aplurality of streams of the selected material flow from a bushing havinga given number of small orifices andthe streams thus formed areattenuated into filamentsbysuitable means and the filaments gathered tovgether into a single strand; The strand resulting from the above isusually wound into; a package on a revoluble; supporting member, whichmaybe also the attenuatingmeans, by traversing the strand along themember. closed, for instance, in the Fisher Patent No.

2,224,149 of DecemberlO, 1940.

volu-ble member. It follows, therefore, thatin order to double theproduction at any one station it was necessary to duplicate all of theapparatus at this stationincluding the traversing equipment. Thisprocedure is not only expensive but requires considerablev floor spaceand necessitates providing additional operators,

The present invention contemplates materially increasing the productionat'any one station with out'duplicating the equipment by arranging thestreams issuing from a single large bushing or a from a plurality ofseparate bushings into a plu-' rality of strands and by simultaneouslywinding the strands. on a single revoluble supporting member. r t

' 7 Another object of this invention is to individur ally wind thestrands. on the-supporting member This process" is disin spacedrelationship so that the windings of the individual strands are, ineffect, independent of [one another and may be removedindividually fromthe revoluble supporting member. a

3 Still another object of this invention is to pro- In the production ofpackaged strands of glassgs the latter lengthwise of the revoluble.member and filaments by the above process, and also in the. packagingofstrands of continuous filaments of' rate whenbeing unwound from thepackage espe- 1 break away from the strand do not'unwind with othermaterial, the strand of filaments may sepathe strand and form what arecalled ringers 'on the package.

snarl the windings and interfere with further unwinding of-thestrand,and, because of the very small diameter of the individual filaments, are

These "ringers tangle and extremely diflicult to trace and remove,makingv it necessary oftentimes tofdisc'a'rd a'large portion of thepackage as a loss. r a

It'is an object of the present invention to provide a package of strandsfrom which ringers areautomatically removed in the unwinding op v iaccompanying drawings, wherein: i I Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sideelevational view of a strand or filament producing apparatus con=vstructed in accordance with my invention;

eration. This is attainedby-winding a plurality of strands into a singlepackage in such a manner that each of the strands in unwinding removes vany ringers left by the otherfstran'd'or strands. Thlsnovei winding alsofacilitates starting of unme at which the strand issuin'gfromthe bushingIts "Flgure1;' Figure 3 isa diagrammatic plan viewof the videatraversin'g element having projections successively engageable with thestrands to advance having the leading edges of the projections inclinedina direction. tov maintain the strands in. spacedrelation during thetraversing movement.

with respect to the revoluble member to effect return travel of thestrands -in an-out of phase relationshipduring the interval providedbetween engagement orthe strands by adjacent projections-on'the;traversingelement.

The foregoing, as well as other objects, will made more apparent as thisdescription proceeds,

especially when consideredin connectionwith the .Figure' 2 is a frontview for the. apparatus of apparatus shownin Figures 1 and 2 with theex- I ception of the-bushing or feeder; and y a Figure 4 is -adiagrammatic plan view of a portionof'the'traversing equipment and of a.package woundin accordance with the present invention.

- 1A5 previouslystated, the-present invention, is

illustrated in: connection with the manufacture ofv continuous strandsof of inorganic materials, such as glass or other materials havingcharacteristics similar to glass; and is principally concerned withwinding an improved package of the strands andincreasing the productionof strands with the minimum amount of'equipment.

With the above in view referencewill Know be made to Figures 1 and 2 ofthe drawings wherein the reference character [0 indicates a bushinghaving laterally-spaced rows of orifices I I through 10.. which moltenglassis caused lto'fiow continuously in the form of streams l2.Thestreams, l2

are attenuated to form filaments and the filaments are gathered intoindividual. strands l3 and I4 by suitable collecting guides and I6respectively. In the present instance, the guides may include sizingpads which function to apply a; suitable lubricant to the surfaces ofthe glass farthest removed pad 15 to traverse along the package at ahigher rate than the strand from the otherand nearer pad ll so thatduring return traverse the strands are out of phase. a By the inventiontwo. continuous strands are ent invention renders it possible to atleast double y the production without increasing the number of filamentsand thereb protect the surfaces oithe,

filaments and bind each group of filaments into an integral strand.

The strands i3 and wound on a revoluble member I! in the form of a spoolsupported in any suitable manner for rotation about an axis I 8.- As aresult of windin the two strands on the spool in accordance with thepresent invention, a package I9 is formed having two individual windingsof strands which are capable of being removed as separate strands or, ifdesired, as one strand from the spool. In

M are simultaneously the furtherprocessing of the strands the two ends aright angle.

. pins 23 are preferably inclined from the periphe,

from one packagemay be twisted singly to form two yarns or twistedtogether to form a yarnof' 20 of the spool to theend 2i by a traversingdisk" 22 supported for rotation about an axis perpendicular to the'axisof rotation of the spool and A having a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced projections in the form of pins 23 extending fromthe'periphery'thereof. The traversing disk is so located with respect tothe spool i! that the pins 23 respectively engageboth strands and movethe same from the end 20 of the spool to the opposite end 2! of thelatter. It will, of course, be understood that the strands are releasedfrom their respective pins at points adjacent the end 2! of the spool I7and are returned to the end ZObefore the next adjacent pin engage thestrands. This return movement is efi'ected by positioning the guides orpads i5 and to outside the space bounded by planes normal to the axis ofrotation of the spool and passing through the ends 2i], 2! of the spoolor the ends of the package to be wound'on the spool. The arrangement issuch that when the strands approach the end 2! of the spool they areunder tension an will return toward the end 20 as soon as they arereleased due to their tendency to meet the spool axis at a It will benoted from the drawings that the ery of the disk 22 in a directionopposite the direction of rotation of the disk; This disposition of 'thepins 23 is preferred because it tends to maintain the strand in spacedrelationship during traversing movement of the strands bythe pins, dueto the angular relation between the pins and the surface of the packageon the spool and machines or stations and without proportionatelyincreasing the numberroi operators required.

.Figure 4 illustrates diagrammaticallythe type of package wound inaccordance with the pres ent invention, and the relation thereto of aportion of. the traversing apparatus. The size' and spacing of thestrands is exaggerated to more clearly illustrate the arrangementthereofon the packages The cycie'of winding depicted in this view begins at thepoint a. and under actionof the traversing disk the two strands l3 and-N are vspiraled about the package to the point I), with the strands inspaced relation due to the inclination of the strand-engagingprojections'on I the' disk. The strands gradually approach each otherasthey are traversed. along the. package due to the change in angularrelation between the pins 23 and the package as the pins move along thepackage so that the strands are wound onthe package in out-oi-phaserelationship. Depending upon the degree of inclination of the pins, the*strands may-come into actual contact at the end 2! of the package ormay be slightly spaced or may cross each other. At the point D, thestrands are releasedfrom the projections on the disk and return alongthe package under the influence of the oifset relation of the guides l5and I8. 'Due to the greater distance that one of the guides, namely theguide I5, is spaced outwardly from the plane passing through the end'of'the package, the strand -l3 traverses along the package at a higherrate. This causes the space between the strands to increase as thestrands approach the starting position on the a package, so thatinefiect the strands on return traverse are also in out-of-phaserelationship. From the fact that the strands come into contact or evencross each other at the end '2! of the package it can be seen that ifsubstantially radially extending pins are employed in place of the pins23 on the disk, the strands during the whole of the traversing movementunder action of the pins will be in contacting relationand may evencross back and forth over each other'and will, in eifect, be wound on asa single strand. Although this arrangement of the strands is not asdesirable as where traversing is effected byvv under action of the pins,or other traversing the relation of the package and pads illustrated inFigure 3.

The fact that the pads l5 and ii are offset from one another in thedirection of the axis I8 of the mechanism that may be employed, are inspaced.

contacting, or crossing relation, theherein disclosed relation of theguides 15 and. I6 causes thestrands to wind on separately on returntraverse in out-of phasereclaims.

-tion.- v,

,ialthough tn invention has-,,.been describedin nnection; withthegsimultaneousproduction and repackaging. of double (strands; variousaspects of p the invention are applicable also to the winding ,-.orrewinding ,=:O1= previously; formed yarns or tstrands, and alsotothe-production and/or winding of more than twostrands. The inventionalso, contemplates thatthe guides l5, It may be i replaced ,byxsourceaof strands, for instance,- -spools of strands to be rewoundr into adouble end package whereaspects of thepresent invention are employed-inthe rewinding art.

These and various other modifications maybe made'wlthin the spirit andscope of the appended Iclaimz t -A M 1. Inapparatus for manufacturingcontinuous strands ot material, a revoluble member about which aplurality of lengths of strands are adapt-, -:ed to beifound, means fortraversing the revoluble member with the strands comprising an elementrotatable about an axis perpendicular to the axis of rotation of saidmember and having a plu rality of circumferentially spaced projectionssuccessively engageable with the strands to move the same in onedirection lengthwise ofthe revoluble member, said projections having theleading edges inclined atsuch angle to the path of traversing movementthat the strands are maintained in spaced relationship during thetraversing movement and are separately wound in out-of-phaserelationship on the revoluble member.

2. In apparatus for manufacturing continuous I able 'in one directionsubstantially lengthwise of the revoluble memberandhaving projections gspaced from each otherin'the direction ofrtravel .of the element forsuccessively engaging: the strands, and guide meansrespectivelyengageable with the strands in advanceof thetraversing means and solocated with respect to therevoluble member to,:maintain the strands inspaced relationship and to effect a traversing movement of the strandsin the opposite direction during the interval provided betweensuccessive-engagement of the strands by the projections.

5. In apparatus for manufacturing continuous strands, a revoluble memberabout which a plurality of lengths of strands are adapted to be wound,means for traversing the revoluble member with the strands including adisk rotatable 7 about an axis perpendicularto the. axis of rotation ofsaid member and having a plurality of circumferentially spacedprojections successively engageable with the strands to advance the samein one direction lengthwiseof the revoluble member and to release thestrands at different points at a the end of the traversingmovement insaid direction, said projections having the leading edges 1 inclined atsuch an angle to the path of traversing movement that the strands aremaintained in spaced relationship during traversing movement in thedirection aforesaid and are thereby separately wound around therevoluble member in out-of-phase relationship, and guide meansrespectively engaging the strands in advance of the strands, a revolublemember about which a plurality of lengths of strands are adapted to bewound, means for traversing the revoluble member with the strandsincluding an element movable in one direction substantially lengthwiseof the revoluble member and having a projection engageable with thestrands, the leading edge of vin spaced relationship during said returnmove ment.

3. In apparatus for manufacturing continuous strands of material, arevoluble member about which a plurality of strands are adapted to bewound, means for traversing the revoluble memher in one direction withthe strands and for maintaining the strands in spaced relationshipduring the traversing movement to separately wind the strands on therevoluble memberin outof-phase relationship, and guide meansrespectively engageable with the strands in advance of the traversingmeans and so located with respect to the revoluble member to efiectreturn movement of the strands and to maintain the strands in spacedrelationship during said return movement.

4. In apparatus for manufacturing continuous strands, a revoluble memberabout which a plurality of lengths of strands are adapted to be wound,means for traversing the revoluble member with the strands including anelement mov-'- traversing means and so located with respect to therevoluble member to effect traversing movement of the strands in theopposite direction during the interval provided between successiveengagement of the strands by the projections and to also maintain thestrands in spaced relationship as they aremoved in said oppositedirection.

6. In apparatus for manufacturing continuous strands, a revoluble memberabout which a plurality of lengths of strands are adapted to be wound,means for traversing the revoluble member with the strands including anelement movable in one direction substantially lengthwise of therevoluble member and having projections spaced from each other in thedirection of travel of the element for successively engaging thestrands, and laterally spaced guide means respectively engageable withthe strands in advance of the traversing means and positioned beyond aplane normal to the axis of the revoluble member and including the endof the package approached by the projections on the traversing means.

'7. The method of packaging continuous strands of material whichcomprisessimultaneously traversing in one direction a revoluble memberwith a plurality of strands, maintaining said strands in spaced relationduring the traversing m ment thereof as they are wound, and causing thefree return thereof in a different spaced relation.

8. The method of packaging continuous strands of material whichcomprises simultaneously traversing in one direction a revoluble memberwith a plurality of strands, maintaining said strands in spaced relationduring the traversing movement thereof, and causing the free return ofsaid strands in out-of-phase relation to each other while beingindividually wound on said revoluble member.

9. The method of packaging continuous strands of material whichcomprises simultaneously attenuating and winding a plurality of strandsindividually in spaced relation on a revoluble member by engaging saidstrands with a movable element, guiding the strands in one directionwhile traversing said member, and releasing said strands from saidelement one after the other for tree travel in the opposite direction.

10. The method oi packaging continuous strands of material whichcomprises simultaneously attenuating and Winding a plurality of 7 amovable element, and successively releasing said strands from saidelement for free return in individual out-of-phase relation.

12. The method of winding which comprises traversing a plurality ofseparate strands in one direction along a package in spaced relation andmaintaining the space between the strands substantially constantthroughout the traversing movement in said one direction to wind thestrands on the package in substantially parallel spaced relation, andtraversing the strands in return direction at individually diflerentspeeds, thereby causing the strands to be wound on the package in sideby side relation with the space between the strands constantlyincreasing as the return traverse progresses.

13. A package of strands comprising 'a supporting member, a plurality ofcontinuous lengths of strands wound on the support in spaced relation,the strands of alternate layers disposed in individually differentspacing to permit individual unwinding thereof. I

14. A package of strands comprising a supporting member, a plurality ofcontinuous lengths oi strands successively wound on the support inspaced relation, the strands of alternate layers being in parallelspaced relation and the strands of the others oi said layers beingspaced apart a distance progressively increasing from one end to theother of the package to permit individual unwinding thereof. A

- HOWARD W. COLLINS.

